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Superior Town Center laid out for the public

Features include plaza-anchored Main Street, 'pedestrian promenade'

By John Aguilar Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
05/20/2013 09:53:39 PM MDT

Updated:
05/20/2013 09:55:54 PM MDT

Plans for the Superior Town Center (Courtesy )

SUPERIOR -- The street grid of the Town Center was laid out in detail Monday evening, as the development group moving forward on the 157-acre project presented its latest vision to a roomful of residents during a public meeting.

The future community, at the southeast corner of U.S. 36 and McCaslin Boulevard, will feature a pedestrian promenade with 18-foot-wide sidewalks. To the north, the center's Main Street thoroughfare will be lined with high-density, mixed-use buildings -- up to five stories tall -- with ground-level retail and residences above. A public plaza, good for farmers markets and public festivals, would be in the middle of everything.

Superior Town Center would become the cultural and civic heart of the town, with possibilities for a new town hall, recreation center, bars, a comedy club and a live music venue.

"This will create that town square," said Randy Goodson, director of real estate for San Diego-based Ranch Capital LLC.

Ranch Capital's latest plans go before the Superior Planning Commission on Tuesday before heading to the Board of Trustees in June. If the project gets approved, Goodson said crews could start grading work this fall.

He said Superior Town Center, with about 1,350 residential units in a variety of styles, will offer a walkable environment with plenty of trails, pocket parks and a diversity of building types. Expect cottages, townhomes and urban villas -- units that top out at 2,500 square feet as compared to the larger single-family homes that dominate Superior's existing neighborhoods.

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Superior Town Center will feature the kind of higher-density, low-maintenance housing that appeals to young professionals launching a career or seniors overseeing an empty nest, Goodson said.

"We're targeting everyone but the family with kids at home," he said.

That offering applies directly to Marcy D'Avis, a 20-year resident of Rock Creek who, with her husband, is looking for a new place to live now that they no longer need a large house.

"We have a good-sized house, and we're talking about downsizing," she said. "This might work."

Dong Qian, who has lived in Superior for 13 years, said he likes the look of the project. The smaller residential units promised for Superior Town Center could make the town more accessible to those unable to afford a large suburban home.

"It gets too expensive with the big houses," he said.

But others still have questions about the proposal Ranch Capital has brought forward.

Long-time resident Mike Hall likes the downtown hustle and bustle the plan envisions but worries about whether Superior can create the critical mass to make the neighborhood thrive. He pointed to the Rock Creek Village shopping center on Coalton Road, which has seen a number of businesses come and go over the last few years.

"The question is will it be self-sustaining?" Hall asked. "What makes you think the town is going to support this if it doesn't support what's here already?"

Jim Paine, chairman of the Superior Parks, Recreation, Open Space and Trails Advisory Committee, said he has concerns about the speed with which the project is progressing, especially as some elements of the plan have recently changed.

The town first annexed the parcel in 1997, and a number of development plans have swirled around it over the years. The town moved ahead with Ranch Capital as developer in March.

Paine said there are no longer baseballs fields in the mix, and the athletic fields and facilities the project does call for -- soccer, volleyball, rugby, basketball and tennis -- are uncomfortably close to the neighborhood directly to the south.

"It's going so fast that no one really has time to look at it against community needs and the kinds of facilities that are desirable," he said.

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